Studying (Bad Title)
by eien yurai
Summary: Ron centric fic, though it deals a lot with his position on Hermione. Rather pleases to the eyes, if i do say so myself. R&R.


This is a mirror fic to "Shaving (Bad Title)" dealing with Ron. So, if you could read that first, you'd understand this one.   
  
I do not own Harry Potter and I am not making any money doing this. I am having fun though. Hope you are.   
  
  
  
  
~ Studying ~   
  
This sucked. This really sucked.   
  
Ron sat in the Gryffindor common room, late at night, all alone, in one of the lounge chairs before the large marble fire place, buried deep underneath papers, books, notes, and blank scrolls. Specifically, the books were: Spells of Women's Wiles, Evolution of the Veela, Anti-Spellers, and How to Avoid Getting Caught (written by one Arnold Bearhug, married six times).   
  
Why oh why did he have to be so susceptible to glamours (*a kind of spell a woman puts on herself to make her attractive, which veelas have naturally, a simple kind of hypnosis, very effective on adolescents)?  
  
It was all Fleur Delacour's fault any ways. If she hadn't taken up the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position he wouldn't be in this predicament. But it was also Harry's fault too. Ever since he had saved her little sister, she'd been turning on her glamour spell when he was in the room. Which usually meant that Ron was in the room. Which also meant Hermione was there to get mad at him for it.   
  
Why were the girls always after Harry? He wasn't even all that attractive (well, Hermione swore nether of him and Harry were better looking than the other, not that he cared what she thought). Was it really only that he was famous? Well, he was brave, he always got to do the coolest stuff, not to mention the pile of gold he had in Gringotts... It isn't bloody fair!  
  
So he was jealous. So what? He had a right to be jealous. It's not fair that Ron was always the sidekick. He was pretty sure he could save the world if he was given the chance.   
  
But Harry always got that chance.   
  
In the end, it didn't really matter. Life wouldn't be the same if he hadn't met Harry. Granted, it would probably be a lot safer, but less fun. Come to think of it, the best years of Ron's life were spent here at Hogwarts. He didn't have to be surrounded by his brothers or in a ramshackle old house (not that he didn't love either of them) but he could be himself here. Get off on his own. Get in trouble. Get detention. Get in trouble again.   
  
But there were downsides also.   
  
Like girls.   
  
So many girls.   
  
Ron had never been around so many of the opposite sex in his life. Sure, he was used to Ginny, but she was his sister, for cryin' out loud. Totally different Quidditch field.   
  
It's not that he didn't like them. He happened to like several of them. He just didn't understand them. They giggle. Constantly. And they do it at the same time! Just how, he didn't know. Plus, they never seemed to know what they wanted. Or they just changed their minds a lot. And they groom continuously. Brush their hair. Put on make up (how many different kinds of make-up were there? Foundation, powder, lipstick, lip-gloss, lip liner, masquera, eyeliner, eye shadow, perfume...). Look in the mirror. Continuously make sure their hair is right  
  
Geez, they were nice to look at, but hard to live with.   
  
Of course, Hermione was an exception. Ron didn't think she ever did the whole girl thing with make-up. Except that Yule Ball last year. Christ! She had looked different. All right. He had to admit he had found her... attractive. Must've taken Hermione a lot of work.   
  
Wondered what Draco had thought of that. The stupid prick always got off on insulting her. From what Ron remembered of Harry telling him, Draco's face had the look of total and utter astonishment. What a pity Ron had missed it. What had he been doing? Getting mad at Hermione. Oh yeah.   
  
Back to studying.   
  
The veela is creature that quite literally feeds off the affection of men. Existing in only female form, this very human creature can only mate and reproduce with a male homo-sapien. However, there are legends, no documented facts, of males possessing traits of a veela in which-  
  
Man, boring shit. What a pity there wasn't a male veela around to confound and confuse all the girls he knew. Funny thought, Hermione getting all starry-eyes over some guy. Well, she had done it over Lockhart, but had totally resisted a certain unnamed Quidditch player. She had only danced with him. It hadn't really meant anything. Well, she didn't run away with him or anything.   
  
Skipping ahead- The certain spell the veela uses to catch a mate is called a 'glamour'. Though this spell can be mimicked by some very talented witches, the veela's glamour is by far the most intense. The subject, or victim, undergoes a state of hypnosis, not unlike vampires-  
  
Next page- The glamour can be resisted by only the strong willed male. If one wishes to avoid the spell, concentrate on something else, like a loved one or a personal goal. Someone also found particularly unattractive is also found to work. Though no counter spells have been produced, certain repelling charms are known to lower the amount of infatuation felt.   
  
It's a start. He jotted down the helpful notes. Could Hermione help him with the repelling charm? No, she'd probably laugh at him. It was pretty pathetic, though. Harry? Well, he wouldn't be as much of help, but he wouldn't laugh at him. No, he would, it just wouldn't bother Ron.   
  
He leaned back into the green armchair, sinking into the down cushions. Relaxing into a comfortable position, his legs spread-eagled before him, he massaged his temples.   
  
TIRED! Spell Casting in Weird Places Class was going to have him swimming in the goddamn lake tomorrow too! Ron had managed to skip the first class by pretending he had the foot-sore malady going around (current theory was a manticore had regurgitated somewhere on the lawn, that stuff was know for causing odd side effects) and going to the nurse's office. However, Madam Pompfrey's antibiotic was hardly worth suffering through. Better bite the bullet and let the teacher know he couldn't swim. Maybe he could get off with it. Wearing swimsuits always made him nervous. He hated the fact girls would look at his chest. Well, it would be a good thing if he knew they were thinking good things about his chest, but he didn't. Not knowing was a pain.   
  
Suddenly, a giggle sounded right next to his ear.   
  
"What the- Hermione?"   
  
She was standing right over him, looking at his notes. Damn, figures she would catch him doing this. "Christ, what're you doing up this late?" He glared at her suspiciously.   
  
"Nothing. What are you doing?"   
  
"Nothing." Riiight. What had she been doing? He noticed she was wearing a big T-shirt and... nothing else. Also, she was hiding something behind her back.   
  
Silence for a while. It was kinda pleasant having her there, just the presence of another person. It was lonely studying late by yourself. How often did Hermione do it? Too often, probably. He always found the way her brow wrinkled when she was studying funny. Kinda cute, actually.   
  
I just need a cold shower he thought to himself. Maybe it isn't just Fluer, I could be going mad.   
  
"Do you need any help?" she asked innocently.   
  
"Naw, it's all right. I'm done anyway." Ron began to put away his stuff, but not before he noticed her glancing at his stuff. Great.   
  
He stood up and looked down at her. She was rather tiny, or he was just getting taller. It was then he noticed her legs were wet. "Um, why are you up so late?"  
  
She frowned. "Do I have to tell you?"   
  
He looked sideways at her, "No... but it's suspicious behavior. But, I guess I'm guilty of that, too." Yeah, tell her you're doing suspicious things in the night. Really smooth. Way to get away without leaving curiosity. "Ug, it's late. G'night, okay?"   
  
"Yeah, good night."  
  
She started up the stairs while he finished packing. She was halfway up when he called, "Hey, Hermione!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"You look different"   
  
Her expression froze. "Good way or bad way."  
  
Ron paused. Why should it matter? "Neither, just different."   
  
"Oh, okay. Um... listen, I'll help you with Fleur if you want me to."   
  
He felt his ears turn red. Crap. "Er, okay. Yeah. Thanks. Get a good nights' sleep. We're swimming tomorrow."   
  
"Yeah, you too."   
  
Hermione jogged the rest of the way up the stairs. Hm... Ron supposed everyone does strange things in the night. Briefly wincing at the thought of what his dorm mates do during the night, he made his way upstairs.   
  
  
  
@---%-------------------  
*  
Well, that didn't come out as well as I wanted it to. Ron's position on Hermione was too obvious for me. I prefer the Hermione side of this story (shameless plug? Damn straight, but also how I feel). After this, I've decided I'm to start a series focusing just on the relationship between Hermione and Ron, so if you liked this, stay tuned, or whatever. Please tell me what you thought, better feedback, better fic next time. 


End file.
